Marcus Stoinis picks Australia up off the floor ..
Australia had no choice but to win Tuesday night in Perth after backing themselves into a corner, with a crushing defeat at the hands of New Zealand Saturday night.
It felt like a boxing match arranged for the fallen champ, a mis-match, an opportunity for him to get back in the ring and pummel some poor unsuspecting opponent into submission. A moment to reinstate their worth.
His name was Henry Tillman — Mike Tyson had sensationally just lost his title to Buster Douglas — Tillman was the scapegoat. He lasted a little over two minutes before Iron Mike lifted him into the Caesars Palace parking lot. Tyson went on to win his next eight fights before running into Evander Holyfield — Australia will hope for a similar run.
Australia had no choice but to win Tuesday night in Perth after backing themselves into a corner, with a crushing defeat at the hands of New Zealand Saturday night.
Sri Lanka was no Henry Tillman; they did present as easy pickings, though. Nearly all indicators pointed toward Australia: the pace of the pitch, excessive bounce and lateral movement, non spin-friendly, unusual ground dimensions. The only thing missing from Optus stadium was the crowd. Maybe it was the fear of being hacked!
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Australia resisted making any changes to their team from Saturday night.
Several cases could have been tabled in selection, as is their want, though they remained true to their starters. Sorry, except, for the forced change of Ashton Agar, for the Covid-infected Adam Zampa. Mitch Marsh was also passed fit to bowl, a nice bonus for Captain Finch.
Australia’s bowling powerplay, which was blown open by New Zealand, repaired it self with Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc all showing greater control. It was interesting to note that Starc’s entry-point wasn’t until the fifth over, with Hazlewood and Cummins sharing the first four — 1-22, being a far softer place to start. Hazlewood rounded out the powerplay by bowling over six, so bowling three of his allocation. Will this be repeated Friday night, against England — a wait and see.
Also worth noting: balls one, and two of their powerplay overs, Australia’s quicks conceded just 12 runs. Saturday night, against New Zealand, the tally was 20.
After Kusal Mendis top-edged the extra bounce from Cummins, Pathum Nissanka and Dhananjaya deSilva set about re-routing the Sri Lankan innings. Having taken the score to 75 in the 12th over Dhananjaya was deceived by Ashton Agar, the result being a tidy out-field catch to David Warner — Warner’s fielding was top-notch all night.
This precipitated a collapse of sorts with Sri Lanka losing five for 45 in the next seven overs. In those seven overs, six different bowlers were used, including Marsh, and Glenn Maxwell, who dismissed the dangerous Sri Lankan captain, Dasun Shanaka. Captain, Aaron Finch, dialled in on his bowling rotations, and match-ups.
The only blemish in the Australian bowling innings was the close-out — someone has to do it, right? — with Cummins conceding 20 in over 20, perfect symmetry for Sri Lankan supporters!
Starc was the big improver from the New Zealand game with 1-23 from his four overs, including: 13 dot-balls, and only one boundary conceded. A nice change in his bowling entry-point helping him settle early. Kudos to Andrew McDonald, and his trusted lieutenant, Dan Vettori.
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If what came next was planned, then I am astonished. Sri Lanka’s 157 for six on a lively Perth pitch looked serviceable, especially given Australia’s calamities last Saturday evening.
Warner and Finch, needed a start, both for themselves, and their partnership. Having one opener who can consistently, and effectively, bat through the powerplay is incredibly significant in building robust batting innings in this format.
They laboured in the early going, leaving Australia 0-26 from four overs — with only 15 coming from the bat. Over five saw the introduction of Maheesh Theekshana, who was quickly into his work dismissing Warner on the drive.
At this point it looked like Sri Lanka’s spinners held the key.
Since the start of 2021, Sri Lanka have one of the best-performing spin attacks in T20I’s. During this period their combined numbers are: 112 wickets (Wkts), economy rate (ER) 6.8, and average (Avg) 20.5. Wanindu Hasaranga and Theekshana present many problems to middle-order batters across the world.
Also factor in Australia’s deficiency against spin in the same time period seeing them rank joint-second lowest average (20.4) and the second-lowest balls-per-dismissals ratio against spin-bowling (16.9) - David Warner, statistically, is by far their best player of spin in this format. He was already back in the hutch.
So, you can throw the baby out with the bath-water. What looked liked a suspect match-up for the Aussies, turned into a game changer — and, more importantly, a net-run-rate changer.
Mitch Marsh dropped on two from the spin of Dhananjaya, recovered slightly by attacking Hasaranga’s first over, before holing out in the deep. Enter Glenn Maxwell.
Maxwell averages 51 in 12 innings against Sri Lanka at an exceptional strike-rate of 175.2. Can he arrest his down-turn in form is the question — he whipped Dhananjaya through midwicket, then took down the hapless Hasaranga with two straight sixes, before landing a reverse-swept four. Next minute he’s 22 from six balls.
Where is Finch you might ask? He’s fine, just watching, happy to be a partnership batter at this stage!
After Maxwell departed the game got really silly.
Marcus Stoinis’ entry point was three for 89 in the 13th over. The equation was 61 required from 42 balls — not overly taxing, yet hardly a walk in the park. 25 balls later the game was over. Stoinis had bludgeoned his way to 59* from 18 balls. The partnership with Finch was worth 69* — Finch had made 7* in the partnership, and finished with 31 from 42. Stoinis had hit four boundaries, and six maximums, at an incredible SR of 327. Nuts. Absolute nuts.
Stoinis had given his team what they needed: a win, and a net run-rate boost. As animated as ever, he thrived on the attention, the ground wasn’t big enough, he gave no thought to anything else other than hitting every ball he faced for six.
Was it compelling viewing? Yes.
Did it rival that Virat Kohli innings? No.
And, that is likely an unfair comparison, I know.
What it does though is bring into contrast the different ways you can play this format. I worry that Australia Warner aside only has one way to play with the bat. T20 lends itself to individuality. Australia must find a way of harnessing some togetherness in their batting, some finesse, and a little less muscle. To me, they look like a boxer always looking for a K.O. punch.
Can anyone bat like Virat Kohli?
Will a boxer ever glide around the ring like Muhammad Ali?
As always, thank you for being here.
